hygger Aquarium Double Sponge Filter, Comes with 2 Spare Sponges (S)

This review includes tips for the extra sponges!!! I have had 3 of these for over a year and highly recommend them. I have all size smalls and use them on 5 gal, 8gal, 10gal tanks filled with mostly shrimp and snails and a few fish. They work great and they require little to no maintenance. They easily come apart if you do need to clean or maintain and there are no moving pieces to worry about breaking with wear and tear. They come with the bio balls and an extra set of sponges. They don't require a lot of air, so I'm able to use a splitter on each air pump to also power bubblers. They are completely quiet depending on what level you place the output spout compared to water level. Shrimp and snails love them because they are safe havens to rest on full of yummy things to eat. They cause little to no motion of the water if you have inhabitants that like things calm. And they there is zero risk of having a filter accidentally suck up a baby of any species. The black sponge blends in well with the background and the only part that actually sticks up and shows out of the tank is the tiny clear airline hose. In over a year. I've yet to come anywhere close to needing to replace the sponges, however they have come in handy: 1. When cycling a new aquarium, I bought another of these and swapped out one of the towers (balls and foam) from an existing aquarium with a new one. I did this with two different tanks. This had little to no impact on the established tanks since I only took half of the filter media. It got the new tank to cycle almost immediately. 2. To keep from vacuuming up tiny fish fry during water changes, I use one of the spare sponges on the end of the siphon hose (1/2"). It won't suction up debris with it on, but it works great for water changes in a heavily planted tank where I let the plants handle the debris. 3. (Sort of a spin off of 1 and 2). If you have multiple tanks and are worried about cross contamination, store one of the extra sponges in the back of the tank. Use this if you need to spin off an emergency bin for any reason, and/or when changing water on that specific tank.

I wanted to write this review to address the most common complaints I saw when looking for a new sponge filter. 1. "The replacement sponges were not included." The replacement sponges come squashed into the bio media compartments and you must disassemble the filter and remove them (which you should have noticed if you had bothered using the bio media). 2. "It made my water cloudy." Rule #1 of aquariums, RINSE EVERYTHING FIRST, the bio balls are covered in dust generated from rubbing against each other for however long they've been in the packaging. 3. "Not enough suction power." In many cases see point 1, its the same people who couldn't find their replacement sponges, and pretty self explanatory why that would cause issues. For everyone else, you need an air pump powerful enough to create the lift required to generate flow. A ~3v is good enough for the small, and a 4v for the medium. A 2.9v whisper quiet generates enough flow to piss off my betta if I don't regulate it. 4. "It stops working after a couple weeks" These are higher quality lower micron sponges, not your cheap drive a car through the gaps sponge filters of the early 00's. They will clog faster, reducing flow, than the aforementioned sponges. I suggest waiting 2 weeks after installation, removing 1 side for cleaning and the following week do the other side, essentially cleaning or replacing 1 sponge per week, and you shouldn't have this issue. (See addendum for cleaning sponges at end to save some headache.) 5. "It killed all my (fill in the blank)" No it didn't, you did or something unrelated did. See points 2 and 3, nothing in these filters themselves is toxic, nor will they change any of your water parameters beyond that of filtering or the lack of filtering if not setup properly. BONUS CLEANING TIP: As I stated above, after about 2 weeks in the tank you should clean 1 sponge, then the opposing sponge the following week, then just alternate each week. But as anyone who's ever had sponge filters can tell you, they make a cloudy mess when its time to remove them for cleaning. What I've found that works the best to mitigate that, is take a ziploc bag, filled with tank water, and place over the sponge when you remove it. You can then just squish it out in the bag or in a bucket of dechlorinated water before putting it back on the filter. Its still gonna put some particulate into the tank, but significantly less than any other method I've found. PS, the nasty ass brown water you end up with? Perfect for plants/garden etc. All said these are great sponge filters with a built in media compartment and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a sponge style filter.

Easy to assemble. Don’t forget to get an air pump and tubing. It doesn’t come with it. However it’s been working well in my 20 gallon long the past 2 months.

Perfect filter for my 29 gallon tank. I still use a HOB with it, but I like this a lot. It was inexpensive, and easy to set up. It functions exactly like I need it to with very little noise, or water agitation, for a betta. I'm not sure why some people didn't leave it goid reviews. Maybe they aren't using it correctly, or it's too small for their tanks, or possibly because their fish have large bio loads, like goldfish, or overstocked tanks. I like it a lot.

Perfect size for my 36gallon tank. Was having issues with it turning green with just a HOB filter. Put it in and within 3 hours my tank was crystal clear again. Very simple set up and has easy maintenance. Couldn’t beat the price

I have one of these in each of two of my aquariums. I am impressed by their functionality and cleaning properties. They were simple to set up and install, and are working perfectly well. Time will tell how well they hold up to constant use, but so far, I am impressed after two weeks of operation. Hygger makes very good quality aquarium products.

Does not filter, does not build pressure. Little bubbles form but no water coming from the filter!! Does NOT work, or I was sent a broken one! Wasted money. I have to buy a different one and my tank has to go another few days with no filtration!!

Product arrived per order and on time, very happy with the service!

I gave it one star because it still works in my aquarium and my first Hygger Aquarium Double Sponge Filter 10-40 gallon one I love it easy maintenance and install, but this second one I bought the bigger version 15-55 gallon came to me incomplete, without the two suction cops, ceramic media balls and the two media container. I advice you to look else where